Machine for mixing particulate materials



p 3, 1954 c. E. PHILLIPS 3,147,956

MACHINE FOR MIXING PARTICULATE MATERIALS Filed A ril 4, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 as i 4s 48 INVEN TOR.

CHARLES E.PHILL|P$ BYZCg ATTORN Y Sept. 8, 1964 c. E. PHILLIPS 3,147,956

MACHINE FOR MIXING PARTICULATE MATERIALS Filed April 4, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. CHARLES E PHILLIPS United States Patent 3,147,956 MACHENE FOR MIXING PARTICULATE MATERIALS Charles E. Phillips, PO. Box 65, Downsviile, Wis. Filed Apr. 4, 1961, Ser. No. 100,623 Claims. (Cl. 259-39) This invention relates to improvements in rotary drum type machines for mixing or blending particulate materials, and particularly to an improved machine of this class for blending livestock feeds of differing particle sizes, density and other physical characteristics, in either dry or moist condition.

The present invention is an improvement over the invention described in my co-pending application Serial No. 819,417, filed June 10, 1959, now Patent No. 3,088,711, for Machine for Mixing Particulate Materials.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide in a rotary mixer or the class described, simplitied and novel means for automatically discharging the mixed materials from mixing drums of a wide range of diameters and capacities at an elevation which facilitates controlled flow of the mixture into sacks.

A particular object is to provide in a rotary drum mixer having a normally open end wall port, means for collecting the mixed material flowing out from the port and for continuously conveying the mixture to the open end of a discharge chute from which it may be fed into sacks or otherwise disposed of.

The invention also includes certain other novel features of construction which will be more fully pointed out in the following specification and claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example and not for the purpose of limitation, one of my improved mixing machines:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective, somewhat schematic view showing the machine;

FIG. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical sectional view through the drum casing and mixture discharge members;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the discharge end portion of the drum separate from the casing and with portions of the annular collecting trough broken away to show the outlet ports;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view taken approximately on the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2, showing one of the discharge openings and associated scoop and mixing blade on a larger scale, and

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

My improved mixing machine has a large cylindrical drum lltl having a tubular outer wall 11 and end walls 243 and 21 mounted to revolve about a horizontal axis and supported on a frame 12. Extending axially through the drum and projecting exteriorly of its end walls is a shaft 14 which is supported on the frame 12 in bearings 16 (FIG. 2). The shaft 14 is rigidly connected to the end walls 2% and 21 of the drum by spider members 17.

A hood indicated generally by the numeral 18 encloses an end portion of the drum and is formed with a top inlet opening 19 and an outlet opening in a substantially vertical end casing wall 23 through which a discharge chute 22 extends. Casing wall 23 is spaced from the end wall 21 of the drum 1t Outlet ports 24 are formed in the end wall 21 at opposite sides of the axial shaft 14 and an annular trough indicated generally by the numeral 26 projects from the outer side of the end wall 21 and is divided by partition members 28, extending crosswise of the trough, to provide a multiplicity of pockets 27 for conveying the mixed material to an elevation above the dis- 3,147,955 Patented Sept. 8, 1964 charge chute 22. The outer peripheral wall of the trough 26 is, preferably, an extension of the cylindrical drum wall 21 to which an inwardly extending flange is welded. The pockets 27 are open at their radially inward sides.

Fixed on the casing wall 23 and projecting at an angle thereto at the open sides of the pockets 27 is an innular bathe 3b which partially closes the pockets 27 except when they reach top elevational positions. An opening 32 is provided at the upper periphery of the bafiie 30 and portions 31 of the baffie are bent obliquely downward toward the open end of the chute 22 to direct material from the pockets 27 into the chute. An inner edge 33 of the baffie 30 is positioned closely adjacent to the end wall 21 of the drum above the axis of the drum and cut back edge portions 32a are spaced from the drum below its axis to allow material to flow into the pockets 27 when the discharge chute 22 is closed.

A number of the functional elements of the present invention are similar to those described in my aforesaid application for Patent Serial No. 819,417. Thus a plurality of mixing blades 34415 are fixed on and project radially inward from the interior surface of the drum it These blades are preferably of the spiral form indicated in FIG. 2 and are angularly pitched. Each blade preferably extends circumferentially of the drum approximately degrees at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to planes perpendicular to the axis of the drum. As indicated in FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings, there are two of these blades spaced equally around the periphery of the drum and each blade has its end adjacent to the drum wall 21 disposed to feed material into the leading open side of a scoop indicated generally at 36.

Each of the scoops 36 has an oblique wall 37 disposed to direct material out through one of the ports 24 in the drum wall 21. The scoop is closed at its trailing side 38 and open at its leading side 39 to receive material to be discharged. Material is fed into the open side of the several chutes by a trailing end portion 40 of the respective mixing blades 34-35. The trailing end portion 40 may be welded or otherwise secured to the end wall 21. When the drum It is rotated the scoops 36, which are fixed in the drum, gather mixed material from the lower portion of the drum and discharge the material through one or the other of the ports 24 by gravity over the oblique wall 37 when the latter reaches its upper elevation position. The material thus discharged from the ports 24 is collected in the annular trough 26 and is carried in the pockets 27 from the lower peripheral positions thereof to a high elevational position where the load carried by each pocket is dumped through the opening 32 into the upper end of the chute 22. The mixture flows from the lower end of the chute 22 into sacks or other receptacles under control of sliding closure members 22a and 22b.

Suitable power rotating means for the drum It) is shown schematically in FIG. 1 and may comprise an electric motor 42 operatively connected through speed reduction mechanism in a housing 43 and a sprocket chain to a ring gear 44 (FIG. 2) fixed on the outer periphery of the tubular wall 11 of the drum. The drum 10 may thereby be rotated at suitable speed, usually on the order of 2 to 5 rpm. in the direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 4.

To facilitate the loading of particulate materials into a rotary drum type mixer of large capacity, loading mechanism such as that described in my aforesaid applica tion serial No. 819,417 may be provided. As shown in FIG. 4, the drum wall 11 is provided with elongated peripheral intake openings 45 adjacent to the end wall 21. Extending beneath the drum 1t and openings 45 therein is a loading bin indicated generally by the numeral 46 from which materials to be mixed may be scooped into the drum through the openings 4-5. The bin has an approximately semi-cylindrical bottom wall 47 preferably having a radius of curvature corresponding to that of the drum 10. This bin projects beneath a floor plate 48 at the front of the drum and the plate is formed with a grill covered opening 49 into which the materials to be mixed may be fed into the bin.

As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of scoops indicated generally by the numeral 50 are pivotally supported within the drum on horizontal rods 51. Each scoop is arranged to project through an opening 45 and has a leading edge 52 adapted to slide along the arcuate wall 47 of the bin to gather material into the drum opening. There is also an opening 54 at the inner side of each scoop 50 from which the material is discharged, as hereinafter described. To prevent the loaded material from returning to the bin 46 through the openin s 45, I enclose each of the scoops 50 in a housing indicated generally by the numeral 55. This housing has an arcuate wall 55a connected to the end wall 21 of the drum and extending concentrically to the pivot rod 51, a wall 50a (FIG. 2) extending parallel to the wall 21, a wall 55b connecting the wall 56a to the drum wall 21 and an opening 57 in the wall 55b adapted to be closed by gravity operated outlet door 56 which is hingedly connected at 53 to the arcuate wall 55a.

Assuming that the bin 46 has been filled with the particulate materials to be mixed, as the drum 10 rotates the scoops t) descend one at a time by gravity into the bin so that the leading edge 52 of each scoop slides along the arcuate floor 47 of the bin and gathers loose material into the housing 55. The floor 47 merges at its ends into the side walls of the hood 13 and the latter closes the openings 45 in the drum as they reach the upper half of the drum periphery.

As each scoop is carried upwardly at the right side of the drum, FIG. 4, it is guided to its retracted position within the drum by the arcuate floor 47. The contents of each loaded scoop are confined in its housing 55 and carried around the upper periphery of the drum until the scoop reaches a position such as that indicated at the upper left of FIG. 4 when the door 56 of the housing swings open to discharge the contents of the scoop and housing into the main mixing chamber of the drum. Since the doors 55 are closed when the housings 55 are moved around the lower periphery of the drum, the loaded material cannot fall back into the bin 46 through the openings 45 in the drum. The drum is thereby progressively loaded as additional materials are picked up from the bin 46 until the drum is filled to capacity, if a capacity load is to be blended. The filling may be continued until the level of the material is substantially above the shaft 14. This loading mechanism is adapted for use with mixing drums of a wide range of capacities, e.g., from 1 to tons of particulate material.

Occasionally it may be desirable to feed some or all of the drum load through the top opening 19 into the hood 18. For this purpose rotation of the drum may be stopped with any one of the openings 45 in registry with the top inlet opening 19 in the hood. Otherwise, the rotation of the drum may be continued while the material is fed through the openings 19 and 45.

Chute closure member 22b may be retained in its closed position during a portion of the mixing cycle so that the mixed materials discharged through the drum ports 24 are collected in the annular trough 26. While retained in this trough the material is mixed by tumbling action until such time as the closure members 22a and 22b in the discharge chute 22 are opened. After a period of time sufiicient for the through blending of the several particulate materials within the drum, the mixture may be discharged into sacks placed below the lower end of the chute 22 or the mixture may be allowed to flow onto a conveyor or into any other receptacle for storage or shipment.

It will be evident that the mixture is delivered continuously into the annular trough 26 through the drum ports 24 and flows to the inner side of these ports over the inclined walls 37 of the scoops 36 within the drum. The material received in the annular trough 26 is carried in the pockets 27 to the upper periphery of the drum where the pockets are inverted to dump the material through the opening 32 in the annular bafiie 30 into the open upper end of the chute 22. The rotation of the drum may be continued until the entire load has been discharged through the chute 22 and until the last remnants of the material have been picked up by the trailing ends of the blades 34 and 35 and fed thereby into the scoops 35 to fiow out through the ports 24. The annular baflie 31 is, preferably, perpendicular to the casing wall 23 and the latter, as shown, is parallel to the end wall 21 of the drum.

According to a modification of my invention, the drum loading elements including the bin 46, scoops 50 and housing 55 for the loading scoops may be located at or near the end of the drum opposite to the end 21 where the unloading scoops 36 and ports 24 are provided. Optiumum results may be obtained with some particulate materials if the drum is rotated in one direction during the loading operation and in the opposite direction during the unloading.

It will be evident that the power for rotating the drum is utilized to cause the functioning of both the drum loading and unloading elements. Since there are no relatively moving parts of the unloading mechanism to wear out the cost of maintenance is reduced to a minimum. This simple discharge mechanism delivers the mixtures at an elevation which facilitates the sacking operation and is adapted for use with mixers of relatively small diameter as well as those of the larger sizes.

I claim:

1. A machine for mixing particulate materials comprising, a drum mounted to revolve about a substantially horizontal axis and having a tubular wall and end walls, one of said end walls being a discharge end wall formed with an outlet port disposed at one side of said axis, mixing blades fixed on and projecting inwardly from said tubular wall, an annular trough projecting from the outer side of said discharge end wall for receiving material from said port, partition members dividing said trough crosswise into a plurality of radially inwardly open pockets, a fixed hood enclosing said annular trough, a discharge chute supported on said hood, projecting upwardly therein and having an open intake end disposed at an elevation above the axis of said drum, and arcuate bathe means projecting inwardly from said hood and formed to direct material discharged from said pockets into the intake end of said discharge chute.

2. A machine in accordance with claim 1 including scoop means carried by and projecting within said drum for directing material out through said port in the discharge end wall of the drum, said scoop means having an opening at its leading side in the direction of rotation of the drum to receive material, and said mixing blades comprising spirally disposed blades projecting from the tubular wall of the drum and disposed to direct material into said scoop means.

3. A machine for mixing particulate materials comprising, a drum mounted to revolve about a substantially horizontal axis and having a tubular wall and end walls, one of said end walls being a discharge end wall having an outlet port disposed at one side of said axis, mixing blades fixed on and projecting inwardly from said tubular wall, an annular trough projecting from the outer side of said discharge end wall for receiving material from said port, partition members dividing said trough crosswise into a plurality of radially inwardly open pockets, a fixed hood having a casing wall extending in outwardly spaced relation to said discharge end wall and enclosing said annular trough, an annular baffie fixed on said casing wall and projecting inwardly therefrom to partially close said pockets at the inner periphery of said trough, said baffle having an outlet opening disposed to receive material 5 discharged from said pockets when at an upper elevation, and a discharge chute having an open intake end disposed directly below and adjacent to the outlet opening in said bafiie.

4. A machine in accordance with claim 1 in which flow 5 of mixed material through said discharge chute is under control of a manually adjustable closure member.

5. A machine in accordance with claim 4 in which said outlet port is continuously open and said discharge chute References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Jaeger July 21, 1936 Aspegren Feb. 3, 1959 

1. A MACHINE FOR MIXING PARTICULATE MATERIALS COMPRISING, A DRUM MOUNTED TO REVOLVE ABOUT A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL AXIS AND HAVING A TUBULAR WALL AND END WALLS, ONE OF SAID END WALLS BEING A DISCHARGE END WALL FORMED WITH AN OUTLET PORT DISPOSED AT ONE SIDE OF SAID AXIS, MIXING BLADES FIXED ON AND PROJECTING INWARDLY FROM SAID TUBULAR WALL, AN ANNULAR TROUGH PROJECTING FROM THE OUTER SIDE OF SAID DISCHARGE END WALL FOR RECEIVING MATERIAL FROM SAID PORT, PARTITION MEMBERS DIVIDING SAID TROUGH CROSSWISE INTO A PLURALITY OF RADIALLY INWARDLY OPEN POCKETS, A FIXED HOOD ENCLOSING SAID ANNULAR TROUGH, A DISCHARGE CHUTE SUPPORTED ON SAID HOOD, PROJECTING UPWARDLY THEREIN AND HAVING AN OPEN INTAKE END DISPOSED AT AN ELEVATION ABOVE THE AXIS OF SAID DRUM, AND ARCUATE BAFFLE MEANS PROJECTING INWARDLY FROM SAID HOOD AND FORMED TO DIRECT MATERIAL DISCHARGED FROM SAID POCKETS INTO THE INTAKE END OF SAID DISCHARGE CHUTE. 